Page:St. Nicholas (serial) (IA stnicholasserial321dodg).pdf/465

1905.] Pinkey saw his’ Affinity’s face brighten as she looked squarely at him and blushingly approached the platform, he felt repaid one hundred times over for the sacrifice of the air-gun.

Hattie Warren was at once surrounded by all the girls in the room, whose curiosity, getting the better of their envy, stimulated the desire to inspect at close range the valentine they all had admired in the show-case.

“Who sent it?” “Who sent it?” was the cry that came from all sides.

“Look at the wrapper,” suggested one. “Whose writing is it?” They looked, but it was familiar to no one.

“Look on the inside of the box,” “Look on the back of it,” were some of the further suggestions from the curious ones.

After inspecting it all over, one of the girls detected some letters and figures on the back of the valentine, written diagonally across one corner. These were at once investigated, as possibly furnishing a clue to the giver’s identity.

“E. L.” shouted one of the girls. “Eddie Lewis sent it, and it cost a dollar!”

This announcement staggered Pinkey. He thought 1t must be a joke, until one after another verified the telltale letters. He could in no way account for the initials of his rival being on the back of the valentine, for it had not been out of his possession after he received it until he placed it in the box. He was beside himself with indignation and perplexity. He hoped Eddec Lewis would speak up and deny sending it; but, instead of so doing, Eddie assumed a knowing, mysterious look, and said nothing.

All this was too much fer Bunny Morris’s sense of justice; and, without waiting to see what Pinkey was going te do, he blurted out: “Pinkey Perkins sent that valentine. Eddie Lewis did n’t have anything to do with it.”

Every one looked at Eddie, to see what he would do. Instead of defending himself against Bunny’s accusation, as they expected, he shifted uneasily from one foot to the other, and said evasively, “I never said I sent it.’ A minute later, when attention became centered on Pinkey, Eddie silently opened the door and left the room.

Pinkey tried to look unconcerned, but he made a dismal failure. He tried to assume a vexed air, but he only grinned and blushed to the roots of his hair.

But what could the letters “E. L.” signify, if not Eddie Lewis? No one else in school had the same initials. As a last resort, Red Feather, who was by this time ready to depart from the noisy throng, was consulted. She saw through the mystery at once.

“‘E. L.,’” said she, “is the cost-mark. It is n’t anybody’s initials.”

If there were any possible remaining doubts as to who sent the valentine, Pinkey forever dispelled them by chasing Bunny Morris madly around the room, and out of the door into the yard, shouting as he ran, “Bunny Morris, if you ever tell on me again, I ’ll—”

The threat was lost in the distance.